Lisa Brennan-Jobs had a problematic and strained relationship with her famous father, Steve Jobs, who once told her she would not inherit any of his riches after she asked for his Porsche.
In 1978, Steve Jobs and Chrisann Brennan were both 23 when Lisa Brennan-Jobs was born. She was welcomed at one of her parent’s friends, Robert’s farm in Oregon, assisted by two midwives.
It took three hours for Lisa to be born, with her father only arriving a few days later. According to her, the future chairman of Apple denied Lisa as his daughter and told everyone on the farm.
Steve Jobs at the 2004 Worldwide Developers Conference on June 28, 2004, in San Francisco, California | Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
DENYING PATERNITY & NAMING LISA
In an August 2018 “Vanity Fair” piece, taken from Lisa’s book “Small Fry,” she opened up about her relationship with her father. Despite denying Lisa’s paternity, Steve still flew all the way to meet her.
She had a big nose and black hair, and Robert told Steve that she looked like him. Steve and Chrisann took their baby out into a field, laid her on a blanket, and browsed for a baby name in a book.
“You will be shocked by what you read about Steve Jobs in this beautifully rendered literary memoir by his daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs. You will be equally stunned by the author’s insight and honesty.” — Renee P.https://t.co/2OtcLDlWfx #powellsrecommends pic.twitter.com/9vqElnsSfB
— Powell’s Books (@Powells) September 20, 2018
Steve wanted to name his daughter Claire, but they couldn’t agree until Chrisann came up with the name Lisa, which they both liked. The following day, the inventor had left.
The businessman’s daughter ended up thinking her name was used to name a new computer. The machine was the precursor to the Macintosh but was too expensive and a commercial failure.
Lisa Brennan-Jobs paints damning portrait of life with her father, Apple founder Steve Jobs, but is forgiving of him:https://t.co/A4jzXlKMLV pic.twitter.com/KRJvvFVJfE
— Women in the World (@WomenintheWorld) September 2, 2018
THE LISA & DAUGHTER’S UPBRINGING
Her father ended up working against it and joined the Macintosh team. This resulted in the Lisa being discontinued, and 3,000 unsold computers were later buried in a landfill in Logan, Utah.
Chrisann brought up her daughter on her own and supplemented her welfare payments by cleaning houses and waitressing. Her father didn’t help; thus, at age 2, Lisa and Chrisann lived in a room in a home for a few months.
The State behind our smart stuff…. https://t.co/eCFyyEJ1th
— Mariana Mazzucato (@MazzucatoM) August 10, 2021
STEVE SUED & BEING A MILLIONAIRE
In 1980, Steve was sued by the district attorney of San Mateo County, California, for child-support payments. The mega-mogul denied paternity and swore he was sterile before naming another man as Lisa’s father.
She had to take a DNA test, and it came back in her favor at 94.4 percent. The court then forced Steve to cover welfare back payments and child-support payments of $385 per month, which he increased to $500.
Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ memoir Small Fry tells stories that will ring true for people whose parents split up during their childhoods, but with a crucial difference — her father was Apple co-founder and tech messiah Steve Jobs.https://t.co/zXyKkxKSbB pic.twitter.com/XjsZfM33Yi
— CBC Radio: The Current (@TheCurrentCBC) December 10, 2018
Steve also had to pay Lisa’s medical insurance until she was 18. On December 8, 1980, the case was finalized with Steve’s lawyers pushing for that, then four days later, Apple went public.
Overnight, Steve became worth more than $200 million! By the time Lisa was seven, she and her depressed mother had moved thirteen times, and her father had started dropping by at least once a month.
The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. —Steve Jobs pic.twitter.com/GamJON54Br
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) August 10, 2021
MISTREATING LISA
He drove a black Porsche and hardly had a relationship with his daughter because he didn’t talk much. At one point, Lisa was staying with her father overnight while her mother took college classes in San Francisco.
In 2018, Steve’s daughter Lisa was married and living with her husband Bill…
Despite being a multimillionaire, Steve Jobs only paid $500 a month in child support to his daughter, Lisa
— UberFacts (@UberFacts) January 4, 2021
She got to eat dinner, take a hot tub bath outside, and watch old movies with Steve. However, during car rides, Steve never spoke to her, and one day, she asked if she could have his Porsche when the time came, he said:
“You’re not getting anything. You understand? Nothing. You’re getting nothing.”
Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ account of her relationship with her father, Apple’s Steve Jobs, has drawn criticism from the rest of the family.
“I believe that people have the right to tell their own story and this is very much my own story,” Brennan-Jobs says https://t.co/4Tax9iaDuu pic.twitter.com/Vhjgrlzh79
— CNN (@CNN) September 13, 2018
NAMING A PC AFTER LISA
When she was in high school, she asked her father if the Lisa computer was named after her, and he denied it. He only admitted it to a friend, Bono, when his daughter was 27, finally giving her something to hold onto.
Three months before Steve died from cancer, Lisa started stealing things from his house when she visited. Before sharing a hug with him, Lisa spritzed herself with natural bathroom spray that had gone wrong, and he said:
“You smell like a toilet.”
AN OUTCAST & PERSONAL LIFE
One incident that Lisa recalled she attended a birthday party for her younger half-sister Eve, and when a guest asked who Steve’s oldest daughter was, Eve described her as their father’s mistake.
Besides Eve, the writer and journalist had two other half-siblings and a stepmother. In 2018, Steve’s daughter Lisa was married and living with her husband Bill and their son Thomas in Brooklyn.